With Yankees’ uncertainty, one coach is being eyed for a manager job

Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s top lieutenant could be cherry-picked by the Houston Astros as he and general manager Brian Cashman weigh the fate of their coaching staff.Bench coach Brad Ausmus reportedly interviewed with the Astros for their vacant manager job last week.Ausmus, 57, is one of several Yankees coaches whose contracts are expiring, along with hitting coach James Rowson, catching coordinator Tanner Swanson and others.Within a week of the Rays’ sweep of the Yankees in the American League Division Series in early October, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner signed general manager Brian Cashman to a new contract and decided to keep Boone, who has one season remaining on his contract.Next, the club re-signed pitching coach Matt Blake after the club posted an MLB-best 3.23 ERA in 2026. Rowson’s status is uncertain after Steinbrenner publicly cited Yankees hitters as a reason for the club finishing second to the Rays in the AL East and losing to them in the second round of the playoffs with a roster he believed was championship caliber.Ausmus was in Houston last Thursday, meeting with the Astros at Daikin Park, according to MLB.com beat writer Brian McTaggart. The meeting occurred a day before the Astros hired Randy Flores to fill their general manager opening. Ausmus has five seasons of managerial experience with the Detroit Tigers (2014-17) and Los Angeles Angels (2019). He also managed Israel in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.The former All-Star catcher spent 10 of his 18 MLB seasons with the Astros, seven as a teammate of Jeff Bagwell, a franchise legend and Hall of Fame first baseman who is now a senior advisor to owner Jim Crane and to baseball operations.Ausmus was a finalist for the Astros’ manager position when they hired Dusty Baker in 2020 in the aftermath of the organization’s sign-stealing scandal, which led to the firing of manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow. Also, Ausmus interviewed for the Astros’ GM job in 2023 before Dana Brown landed the position.Other possible Astros manager candidates include Morgan Ensberg, who was an All-Star third baseman for the club. Two future Hall of Famers could also be in the running — first baseman Albert Pujols and catcher Yadier Molina. Both were St. Louis Cardinals teammates of Flores, a former pitcher.The Astros’ manager position opened on Oct. 14 when Joe Espada was fired after three seasons. Espada was the Yankees’third-base coach for manager Joe Girardi from 2015-17.If the Yankees don’t finalize their coaching staff this week, Cashman will give an update on the situation during the GM Meetings, which will be held in Las Vegas from Nov. 9-12.Read the original article on NJ.com. Add NJ.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.